Reflex influences on muscle spindle activity in relaxed human leg muscles

The study was designed to determine whether low-threshold cutaneous and muscle afferents from the foot reflexly activate gamma-motoneurons innervating relaxed muscles of the leg. In 15 experiments multiunit recordings were made from 21 nerve fascicles innervating triceps surae or tibialis anterior. In a further nine experiments the activity of 19 identified single muscle spindle afferents was recorded, 13 from triceps surae, 5 from tibialis anterior, and 1 from extensor digitorum longus. Trains of electrical stimuli (5 stimuli, 300 Hz) were delivered to the sural nerve at the ankle (intensity, twice sensory threshold) and the posterior tibial nerve at the ankle (intensity, 1.1 times motor threshold for the small muscles of the foot). In addition, a tap on the appropriate tendon at varying times after the stimuli was used to assess the dynamic responsiveness of the afferents under study. The conditioning electrical stimuli did not change the discharge of single spindle afferents. Recordings of rectified and averaged multiunit activity also revealed no change in the overall level of background neural activity following the electrical stimuli. The afferent responses to tendon taps did not differ significantly whether or not they were preceded by stimulation of the sural or posterior tibial nerves. These results suggest that low-threshold afferents from the foot do not produce significant activation of fusimotor neurons in relaxed leg muscles, at least as judged by their ability to alter the discharge of muscle spindle afferents. As there may be no effective background activity in fusimotor neurons innervating relaxed human muscles, it is possible that these inputs from the foot could influence the fusimotor system during voluntary contractions when the fusimotor neurons have been brought to firing threshold. In one subject trains of stimuli were delivered to the posterior tibial nerve at painful levels (30 times motor threshold). They produced an acceleration of the discharge of a spindle in soleus at a latency of approximately 125 ms, in advance of detectable activity in skeletomotor neurons and before an increase in muscle length was noted. It presumably resulted from activation of gamma-motoneurons innervating soleus by small myelinated afferents (A-delta range).